Saturday, February 22, 2014

In a new all time political low, a congressman, Gary Peters tries to silence a woman with cancer. He also goes after licenses of TV stations that play the woman's story.

While Julie Boonstra of Dexter, Mich., struggles to survive
leukemia, she now also has to cope with being called a liar by the Democrat who
wants to be her next senator.

And the campaign of Rep. Gary Peters is also going after
television stations airing ads in which her story is featured, threatening
their licenses.

Congressman Gary Peters Thinks It's Ok To Silence A Woman
Dying of Cancer For Telling Her Obamacare Story

The ad by Americans for Prosperity features Julie Boonstra talking
about how her insurance was canceled under Obamacare and saying that Peters'
decision to vote for the law "jeopardized my health." The ads are
airing in Michigan as Peters seeks the Democratic nomination to replace Sen.
Carl Levin, D-Mich., who is not seeking re-election.

Media organizations investigating the ad's claims note that
Boonstra was able to find comparable new insurance under the law; the
Washington Post's "Fact Checker" blog gave the ad "two
Pinocchios" (as compared to four for President Obama's claim that people
could keep their insurance under the law).

But Boonstra, in response, told the local Dexter Leader
newspaper that though she has no idea whether she will break even with her new
plan, as the fact-checkers claim, the uncertainty of having to restructure her
health care while coping with a deadly disease is damage enough.

"People are asking me for the numbers and I don't know
those answers -- that's the heartbreak of all of this. It's the uncertainty of
not having those numbers that I have an issue with, because I always knew what
I was paying and now I don't, and I haven't gone through the tests or seen my
specialist yet," she said.

"People don't have that certainty -- they don't have
the stability of knowing every month what they're going to be paying now and
it's the ability to actually have that sum of money to pay. People don't have
these out-of -pocket expense moneys."

Boonstra said she is “surprised” by what she described as
the Peters campaign’s strong-arm tactics.

“I’m very surprised,” Boonstra said just hour after she
attempted to confront Peter face-to-face at his Bloomfield Hills residence. “I
have every right to tell my story and express my point of view and opinion on
how Obamacare has effected me.”

Boonstra attempted to confront the congressman at his door,
but he did not answer when she knocked.

“I just went up to his house and knocked on his door,”
Boonstra recalled. “I would like to meet with him, but he did not answer. I
know someone was home, so I left a letter there for him.”

Boonstra wrote in her letter, “I don’t understand why you’re
trying to silence my voice. I have every right to speak out and don’t
understand why you’re doing this.”

A spokesman for the Peters campaign did not respond to a
request for comment on the matter.

“The fact that Representative Peters would sic his legal
team on a Michigan mother battling cancer to muzzle her tells you everything
you need to know about his record of putting politics over people,”
AFP-Michigan State Director Scott Hagerstrom said in a statement.

“This attack on her credibility is disgusting, unwarranted,
and inexcusable,” Hagerstrom said. “Congressman Peters and his indecent
campaign team should be ashamed of themselves.”

The following is pretty much established fact:

Julie
Boonstra has leukemia.

She
had a plan that she liked.

She
lost it.

She
doesn’t think that her alternative options are acceptable*.

But
back to the previous point: she was told that she could keep her plan.

She
lost it.

Gary
Peters voted for Obamacare, and Obamacare is the reason why Julie Boonstra
lost her plan.

I am uncertain why the Peters campaign thinks that attacking
a woman who has leukemia – and make no mistake; they’re calling her a liar in
this cease-and-desistletter – will make people like their candidate better.

Gary Peters was sued himself by former rival candidate Rocky Raczkowski in 2010. The suit was over an ad the Raczkowski claimed was filled with lies and misinformation to intentionally mislead voters.
To silence a woman fighting cancer is a new low for any politician. American's For Prosperity was the firm that produced the advertisement but Gary chose not to go after them. Perhaps Gary was to afraid to pick on someone that was in his league?
This slime ball also had the nerve to run outside of the district he lives in to run and steal the congressional representative position from former Congressman Hansen Clarke. Has Gary Peter even worked in his district since becoming Congressman? He almost immediately announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate upon winning the election in 2012.

4 comments:

It is indeed heartbreaking when anyone you know, or even you yourself, is diagnosed with cancer. However I can understand why this person is upset at her claims. Having to deal with a change in healthcare, especially when you're already burdened with a serious illness, is upsetting. I myself was outraged before the ACA when people who were already insured were suddenly dropped for a "pre-existing" condition upon finding out they had something wrong with them. Also, not sure on Michigan laws, are there no navigators there to help? That is supposed to be their job, is to make that go smoothly as possible. Is there no family to help this woman go to the navigators and get it done? Are there no local church groups trying to ensure that everyone in their neighborhood is registered to vote AND has healthcare so that their families may have that burden eased from their mind?

its already done, she already switched... her max contribution per year is less than it would be under her old insurance.

"Americans for Prosperity confirmed that Boonstra was able to find a new Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan plan that allowed her to keep her doctor; and it noted that under the ACA, individual plans have an out-of-pocket maximum cost of $6,350 a year, including medications."

having cancer sucks. that said, "it's hard for me to keep a paper with my insurance numbers handy when i talk to the doctors" is a bit of a stretch. if she'd lost her insurance BEFORE january, she wouldn't have been able to get any insurance anyway. be glad you have insurance, lady. and say the following without the usual sarcasm "Thanks, Obama!" because of him she gets to continue getting treatment.

the equivalent of this kind of complaint is along the lines of "i used to have this refrigerator that only let me in if a room full of people i don't know and have never met approve it. Thanks to this new law, i had to throw out that old refrigerator, and now I can get at my food, but my old one was white and side-by-side and the new one is black and is a freezer-on-top and it's hard for me to remember where my handles are!"